Quora Answer: If I Invest $10 Million in the Bank, What Annual Return Should I Expect?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “If I invest 10 million in the bank, what would I be looking at for my annual return?”

The question itself is not very clear.  There are different sorts of banks.  In your case, assuming that you have that amount, I would assume that it has to be an investment bank.  Merchant and commercial banking have different areas of focus, and they do not have the sort of investment products that an investment bank has, and thus cannot give you that sort of returns.

With that amount, you are considered a High Net Worth client, meaning that you have access to investment products that people who do not fall into this category will not even know exist.  Your risk profile in this case should be at least balanced.  Anything lower, and perhaps fixed deposits, or government bonds would be more your thing.

Depending on the investment horizon, the type of securities, the currency and other forms of exposure and the liquidity you are looking at, a good investment banker can give you at least 8% per annum, without you getting involved in leveraged and high-risk products.  There are fund managers affiliated through the banks that can offer much higher of course, but the fine print is full of disclaimers since they cannot guarantee the principal.